July 2013

7th July 2013

I watched the last set of the final in the slightly unusual surroundings of the Masquerade Bar in Liverpool, with a drag queen cabaret taking place in the background. I know nothing about tennis, but even I could see how amazing some of Andy Murray’s shots were.

There has been lots of debate about the merits of the decisions, but ultimately this is about simple human rights. Same-sex relationships are just as valid – just as loving and tender and imperfect and tumultuous – as heterosexual ones, and should be recognised as such.

It’s about people’s happiness, and so I think the video below says it all perfectly.

This is far from the end of the road for marriage equality in the US. Same-sex marriage is only legal in 13 states, while many more have placed laws on the statute books explicity banning it. However, the momentum is now definitely with the pro-gay side, with a majority of people now in favour.

Meanwhile, on this side of the pond, legislation to enact same-sex marriages across England and Wales is tantalisingly close to becoming reality. Despite the best attempts of opponents to derail it, the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill will reach its third and final reading in the House of Lords on Monday, the penultimate stage on the long road to Royal Assent.

Similar legislation is about to be introduced in Scotland. This beautiful video from Scotland’s Equality Network shows that It’s Time:

14th July 2013

OK, so Glee has never really matched the heights it reached during season one, and since Sky snatched the rights a few years back I haven’t bothered to watch it.

I do have fond memories of the genuinely impressive first season, though, with Cory Monteith centre stage as the high school jock who risks social alienation by joining the unpopular kids of the glee club.

He died earlier today. His cover of Don’t Stop Believin’ with Lea Michele, from the pilot episode, remains one of the series’ most memorable moments. This is how I’ll remember him.

18th July 2013

50 years ago, homosexuality was illegal. In an amazing turnaround, by the middle of next year, gay relationships will be on an (almost) equal footing to heterosexual ones, as the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill 2013 is now the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013, after Royal Assent was received on Wednesday afternoon.

I’ll be honest – there were times when I didn’t think it would happen. From the minute the plans were announced back in 2011, a formidable campaign against same-sex marriage was launched, unleashing old-school attitudes and opinions that I naively thought had disappeared from public discourse. Certain sections of society are not nearly as tolerant and accepting as we thought they were.

The leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland (or, as he is now known, the disgraced former leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland), Cardinal Keith O’Brien, launched an astonishing diatribe, describing same-sex marriage as a “grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right”. The Telegraph and the Daily Mail were vociferous in their opposition.

The Coalition for Marriage – which described itself as a “grass roots” campaign despite being launched by luminaries such as the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, and reality TV star Anne Widdecombe – set up a petition which, at the time of writing, has a rather pleasing 666,493 signatures. The Government’s own consultation ignored the organised petitions and form letter campaigns, but still revealed widespread opposition.

The cynical view was that this bill was David Cameron’s attempt to “modernise” the Tory party image. If that was his goal, it failed – more Conservative MPs voted against the bill than for it, and Tory MPs have been the most vociferous in their criticism of the bill. Political commentators talked of divisions in the Tory party and rumours swirled of leadership challenges to the Prime Minister. The very real lives and loves of LGBT people were rather lost amongst all the punditry.

A lot of people are unhappy at this – Virgin Media’s Twitter feed is already overrun with people demanding continued unfettered access to porn.

A typical pro-censorship campaigner

It’s incredibly difficult to argue against this plan, as pro-blocking advocates invariably start shrieking “think of the children!” as soon as anyone dares to question them. So let me say right now that no, children should not be looking at porn. I would argue, though, that is chiefly the parents’ responsibility to prevent this, by supervising their internet access and computer use. Judging by the number of “my 6-year-old ran up a £9,632 bill on an iPhone game!” stories in the press recently, some are not doing so.

I would also argue that adults’ freedom to fap is just as important – and when pictures of naked women are available across the newsagent’s counter courtesy of the Sun and the Daily Star, it’s hard to take seriously any claims that children need to be protected.

If you want more, Paul Bernal, Lecturer in Information Technology, Intellectual Property and Media Law at the University of East Anglia Law School has written a useful post: 10 questions about Cameron’s ‘new’ porn-blocking. I have some questions of my own, reproduced below.

I can’t imagine many more horrifying things to be involved in than a train crash. One minute you’re speeding along cocooned in a comfortable train, the next you find yourself thrown out of your seat as the carriage crumbles around you, ending up in as a pile of twisted metal and broken glass. My heart goes out to everyone involved in both accidents.